Pressing Notes

High Plains Drifter was one of the original single sided test pressings done by DiscoVision in 1975. This
version is a complete re-master of that film. The video transfer has vivid colors and a sharp picture. It is too
bad it is transferred with such poor regard to the Panavision image and the Pan & Scan process really takes a toll
on the screen. The film looses video transfer points for the excessive contrast, which makes the film nearly
unwatchable in the night scenes, which comprises nearly half the film.

The audio is transferred within the normal abilities of DiscoVision. The audio for the film is repetitive and
annoying, and there isn't anything that DiscoVision could have done to make it more listenable, aside from turning
the sound completely off. When playing side 1 through a Dolby Pro-Logic decoder, the surround channels show as
being active during most of the side, yet there is almost no audio coming from them. One might suspect a simple
phase error when the disc was transferred, but the program doesn't sound "out of phase".

Some copies of Side 1 suffer from 20 Frame skip. Some
copies also have a Oval spiral pattern orange bumper at the end of side 3, rather than the typical circle pattern.

High Plains Drifter was re-release on MCA/Universal Home Video (Catalog #: 14002) in January 1992 as a 2
sided CLV Widescreen (2.35:1) disc. Universal Studios Home Video issued the title on DVD
in February 1998. It is essentially the same transfer as that of the previously issued LaserDisc.